Deep Blue
by Animagic Salina
Summary: Things take a toll as Marinette Dupain-Cheng falls into the ocean off a cliff one cold, dark night. As time goes on, she sees things never thought imaginable, faces shocking challenges, finds blossoming love, and learns a truth that will change her life forever...
1. Chapter 1

**Deep Blue**

 _A rumble of thunder rolled off in the distance. The sea tumbled in rogue waves, powerful enough to destroy anything in contact. Beneath the waves lived a powerful and wise old merman. He sensed the sudden disharmony and unbalance of the ocean. "No, no, no...this is not good, IT has been stolen from the gods, they are raging." he muttered to himself as he quickly swam over to the sacred crater kept in his cave. Drawing out an elaborate golden key, the merman inserted it in a small opening on the side of the crater. A crack opened at the top. He carefully handled the items inside. The shiny silver ring and dark red earrings glinted ever so slightly in his hands._ _Swimming over to an oldened goblin wood crafted table, he placed the jewels on the flat surface of a clear crystal ball, sat aloof on a red velvet pillow. Raising his hands, he began waving them while chanting an incantation in ancient Chinese. There was a bright golden flash and a surge of energy pulsed throughout the ocean, softly shifting items from their proper places. The jewels disappeared. The old merman sighed in relief and let out a tiny smile. "The jewels are now bonded with the future saviors of the sea. Let fate give them courage and strength for the task at hand..."_

Paris, France, Present Time:

It was a little past midnight. Marinette Dupain-Cheng tossed and turned in her bed while mumbling random words. Her insomnia had been keeping her awake for more than three nights and she was starting to get really annoyed of it. Her eyes finally shot open. "I can't take this anymore...I'm going for a walk." Marinette clambered out of her bed slowly, not bothering to fix her blankets and bedsheets. Wide awake yet blurry eyed, she walked down the steps to the bottom of her room. She quickly snatched her favorite pink hoodie off the coat hanger in the corner of her room. Then, as quietly as she could, she tiptoed down to the front door of her apartment.

Marinette's father was the most famous baker in all of Paris, and the lingering smell of bakery goods disappeared into the cold night air as Marinette opened the door out of the bakery. It was pitch black. Marinette instantly regretted not bringing a flashlight, as she stumbled on a few stray rocks. Grumbling to herself, she picked herself up and hastily brushed the dirt off her light pink jeans. She was already quite far away from the bakery, and decided against the flashlight, as she thought to herself that she would probably go back soon anyways. 

She continued on the darkened pathway, the cold wind swirling her hair. She was glad she brought her hoodie, for if not she'd be freezing right now. Then the music started. It was quiet, serene, and beautiful...and came out of nowhere. Marinette's mind was telling her to go back home, but her body was refusing her to move. Slowly, as if in a trance, Marinette walked further and further on the path. With each step she took, the more the music called out to her. She didn't understand why, but she wasn't frightened. It was as if the music knew her and was a part of her. 

The clouds parted revealing an eerie full moon. Moonlight showered down on the path leading Marinette towards a small cliff. The music was getting louder now, and a little more violent, but she kept on walking up the path. She was so close to the edge now that she could smell the ocean breeze from down below. The dent came out of nowhere and before she processed what was going on, she tripped, falling into the deep blue ocean beneath her. She never even had the chance to scream.

The impact of the water hit her body like a sledgehammer, and she was unconscious as she sank lower in the ocean. Water filled her lungs. She felt them screaming for air. Her body was rigid and paralyzed and couldn't move. But for a brief moment, her eyes fluttered open as she saw a graceful shiny black scaled tail with green fins emerging from a small kelp field. Her eyes couldn't stay open for more longer than a mere moment however, and she was unconscious once more. _"This is it...this is where it all ends",_ she thinks, before blacking out completely. 

The merboy was swimming at night where the moon was high in the sky and the light shone through the ocean with rippling opalescent. He absolutely loved swimming at night through the lightened water, where he could truly be free. The sand was a light tan and corals of different colors sprouted in every corner. Beautiful shells adorned the bare spots of the sand. He laughed lightly and swam around one particularly bright purple coral. A grumpy black as night catfish swam after him, gasping exaggeratingly. "What the heck are you doing this time Adrien? I can't believe you woke me up past midnight for another one of your crazy antics!" Adrien just ignored him and hid behind the coral, the tips of his green fins obviously visible. He stuck his head behind a hole of the coral and stuck out his tongue. "Oh calm down won't you Plagg? It's just another midnight swim, I've been doing this every night on a full moon and you know that." Plagg just rolled his eyes. Although sometimes Adrien can tear him down to the last straw, he still cared for the boy.

Adrien, after all, was only a baby when a family of catfish felt sorry for him and took him in as one of their own. No one knew who his parents were or where they were. The only thing that came with Adrien was a silver ring and a small note mentioning what his name was. Plagg and Adrien grew up side by side like brothers, and Plagg didn't want anything to happen to his "brother". So, for now, he was stuck with midnight swims and whatever other crazy thing that Adrien had in his mind. The merboy laid his head on his arms on top of the coral letting his tail wave gently with the currents. Adrien was deep in thought. He was almost sixteen years old after all, why shouldn't he have more control over his life? The twinkling of his ring caused him to look at his hand. The ring had always been there, ever since he was a baby. He didn't know why but he felt comfort when he wore it. 

A distant but loud splash snapped Adrien out of his thoughts. Plagg seemed to have heard it too, because he was already at Adrien's side. The little catfish's fins were flaring nervously. "A-Adrien I think it would be a good time to get the hell out of here..." The stubborn merboy just swam out of the coral into a small kelp bed and stuck his head out. Plagg just sighed as he watched the lame attempts of Adrien's hiding skills. His blonde hair was totally visible through the dull green of the kelp, as were his bright green eyes. " _To think",_ Plagg thought to himself. " _To think of all these years he's been living with catfish, the most stealthiest fish in the ocean, he couldn't even hide without letting someone see him!"_

Adrien watched with curiosity behind the kelp. He was startled by the splash, yes, but something in his heart told him to check out what it was. Far out in the distance, he could make out a shape sinking slowly and deeper in the ocean. Finally, curiosity got the better of him, and he carefully swam to the shape. What he found was a tremendous shock. This "shape" just so happens to be a human girl. She was wearing a pink hoodie jacket with light pink jeans. Her dark blue hair was tied in pigtails, her skin pale in the moonlight. She was drowning. 

Adrien was just about to leave her but decided not to, for that same nagging feeling in his heart called out to him again. He looked carefully at the girl, swimming around her in slow circles. He needed to save her somehow. Adrien awkwardly held the girl's waist. Thankfully, weight is much lighter in the water and it was fairly easy for him to swim up. He used his strong tail to propel himself up, breaking the surface of the water. A wash of dizziness rained on him and he felt his grip on the girl loosen. This was the first time he came up to the surface.


	2. Chapter 2

It took Adrien a few minutes to get used to the change in atmosphere. His head was still feeling a little woozy from never being up above water. Just then, Plagg's head popped out of the water right next to Adrien, coughing and hacking. Plagg looked at Adrien with an angry face. "Of all the things you've _ever_ done, this is by far the worse! What are you doing up here anyways?!" The catfish's eyes trailed to the human girl nestled in Adrien's arms. "And why do you have a human with you...haven't you learned anything from the fishermen's boat incident?!"

Ah, the fishermen's incident. It happened not too long ago when Adrien was in another one of his explorations. He had swam too far up the ocean and was prodding a large wooden object floating just right above him. The humans on the boat must've felt the vibrations in the water because next thing Adrien knew, a net made of silvery material was released in the water, snagging Adrien's tail. Pulling and tugging as he tried, he could not free himself from the net. Luckily for him, Plagg was there, and his little fins rushed through the water to seek help. Adrien managed to get out, after a kind swordfish managed to tear through the net, leaving it in tatters. That incident had left a little scar right above Adrien's tail fins, a little reminder for him that he would surely not forget.

Adrien looked down at Plagg with guilt filled eyes. He opened his mouth to speak. "I know, I know...and I'm really sorry. But this is different. The girl needed saving and I just thought it was the right thing to do." He didn't dare tell Plagg about how his heart called out to him. _He wouldn't get it...,_ Adrien thought to himself. Plagg just sighed for a second time. "I see you're just trying to be nice, so I guess I'll let you off the hook this time. Drop her off on the sand, then come RIGHT back to the ocean. You know what happens to your scales if you don't." With that, he disappeared under the waves, leaving behind little bubbles.

Adrien should've thought this through. He was now dragging himself and the girl on the sand. The waves were barely lapping over his tail fins before he realized he went out too far. _Crap, I went to far, how am I to get back now...I guess I'll figure it out later._ Adrien paused to take a break as he heaved heavily. He was already starting to feel his tail dry up. He looked at the girl's face. She was motionless and that made Adrien fear for her. He carefully laid his head to her chest, listening for a heartbeat. It was slow alright, but there was indeed a heartbeat. Adrien was glad for this, but was still worried for her, as she still made no movement.

Then Adrien had a crazy thought. He had heard about the weird things humans do from all sorts of creatures in the sea. His face burned red as he quickly thought, _maybe if I do it really quickly and close my eyes, it wouldn't be so bad._ He gently caressed her face with his hands and leaned in, his lips meeting her ice cold ones. He pulled his head back waiting for a response. His red blush turned into more of a pink. Slowly, the girl lifted her eyelids.

Marinette felt nothing. She saw nothing. Her body was well over numb now, and she floated calmly in the water. Minutes ticked away, and her body was now on the wet sand. Then...she felt warmth. It started from her lips, but soon spread throughout her whole body. Her eyes fluttered open in confusion. The first thing she saw was a blurry face of a boy. He had wet golden hair and bright green eyes. He looked over her with a worried expression. She was about to close her eyes again, but instead they trailed off to the boy's bottom torso. Her pupils minusculed as she saw what was there. Instead of a normal pair of legs, there lay a long black scaly tail with lime green fins. Reality had hit her, and she was absolutely terrified.


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette's mouth was moving but not a sound escaped from her. She was scared and mortified of what she saw. Finally composing herself, she sat up, backing herself up from the strange boy. The sudden abrupt in movement caused the boy to move back a few inches in surprise. Marinette's eyes kept staring up and down at him, as if she's seen an alien. Her throat managed to make out a shaky question. "W-what are you?!" The boy inched a little closer. "Please do not be afraid", he said. "I saw you out in the ocean and you looked like you needed help, so I decided to help you..." Marinette stopped backing away, but her eyes still trained on his tail.

Adrien saw the girl's alarmed expression at the sight of his tail and he quickly explained himself. "Look, I'm not who you think I am. I'm not a regular boy...in fact I'm not even human, but please, hear me out." Adrien's words alone wasn't enough to calm the girl down, as she still looked a little shaken. Adrien held his hand to the girl, another human custom he had learned from the sea creatures. She stared at it for five seconds before tentively shaking it. Adrien smiled a little but it soon faded. He looked at the ground sheepishly, the red blush flushing his cheeks again. "Um, this is kind of

embarrassing, but I need your help", he began. The girl looked at him is surprise.

Marinette was confused. The moment her hands touched the boy's, she felt a change in heart. She still had no idea who this boy was or what he was, but something indeed was different. She glanced at his tail again and it hit her. _He's a merman...?_ What puzzled her even more is that he had asked her for help. Why in the world would a merman need help from a human? She decided to just keep quiet and listen.

Adrien shifted his tail uncomfortably. His scales were drying up pretty quickly, and the sand on the beach just caused an irritation. He'd realized he better act quick, as he didn't have much time left. He quickly explained his situation to the girl. "While I brought you to shore, I accidentally dragged myself too far from the ocean." Adrien paused and then spoke again. "The thing is if I don't get back to the ocean sooner or later, my scales would dry up and I would dehydrate. He looked up and saw the girl listening closely, her bluebell eyes wide with concern.

Earlier, if Marinette had been told that she needed to help out a strange creature, she would have refused immediately. But this was different. She looked at him and saw his true self. He was kind and innocent, extremely curious, and dare she say... _cute?_ She saw the panicked look in his eyes and felt sorry. She absolutely must help him now, after all he did just save her life. "...Okay, what can I do to help you?", she said kneeling down.

 _Oops..._ thought Adrien. He didn't think he would actually make it this far. He looked back at the ocean. The waves were just barely lapping his fins, about ten feet away from him. He felt awkward as he realized there was only one way to get back home. He looked up again at the girl who was crouching beside him. "Uh...you might have to pull me." Adrien flushed a brighter red, if that was at all possible. _Damn I must look like a freaking sea tomato right now,_ he thought to himself.

Marinette seemed to have understood the situation because she too was blushing pink. "Alright then", she squeaked out. She took the boys hands. They were unnaturally dry. He was right. She'd better complete this act of heroism soon, his life depended on it. Using all her strength, she started pulling. Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. He was heavier than she had expected him to be. The boy's tail was dragging behind slowly in the wet sand, leaving engraved fin markings. They weren't even halfway when Marinette's legs gave out, and she collapsed on the sand right in front of him. _I failed. I failed in saving someone who had saved me, and now, he's going to die because I couldn't complete a simple favor._

Tears formed in Marinette's eyes but she hid them quickly. A flash of colored plastic caught her eye. A bucket! If she couldn't save him by taking him to the ocean, she'll at least help him ease the pain with water from it. She looked at the boy. His scales were turning dull, and he had passed out. _Oh no no no...I better act quickly!_ She scrambled to the bucket and as fast as her legs could take her and started filling the bucket up with salt water. The strangest thing happened when she touched the water. Marinette had felt a warm tingle in her hands. Miraculously, the tides started going further out onto the beach until it reached the boy, enough to drag him inwards. The tides were doing all the work! Inches from the ocean, he woke up with a start, his dull tail a shiny black once more. Once in the ocean he took a few leaps in the air in victory, the ocean splashing around him as he landed. Marinette smiled warily. She was glad he was back in the ocean and safe now.

The boy stopped leaping to look back at Marinette. There was a shy smile on his face as he waved and mouthed the word thank you. Marinette smiled back and nodded her head. He disappeared into the ocean, his tail the last to be seen. The tides were normal again, and the tingling in her hand had stopped. She hadn't even thought twice about the weird behavior of the tides and just assumed it was her being lucky. Little did she know about the true meaning behind it...


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys! I hope you are enjoying my fanfic so far. I just wanted to make a few things clear and explain the confusing parts of the last chapters. First of all, I know that Paris is no where near the ocean**. **I just did it so it will make more sense for my fanfic. Also, I know that catfish are freshwater and not saltwater fish. Let me just say Plagg and his family are a special type of catfish. Anyways, that's all I have to say for now, I hope you enjoy Chapter 4! :)**

Plagg was waiting anxiously a few feet underwater. He was swimming around in circles, his little fins flaring nervously for the second time that night. Almost an hour had passed and Adrien was nowhere in sight. _Arrrgh...where is that boy?,_ Plagg thought. He went over what happened before Adrien had gone to shore to save that girl in his head. Dropping off a girl on a beach shouldn't have taken _that_ long, should it? Plagg was getting more and more worried with each passing moment. He looked up to try and find any sign of Adrien, only to sigh in defeat when he didn't.

Adrien had passed out before he reached the ocean, and had no awareness of these "magical tides." He just assumed that the girl was able to pull him far enough into the ocean in time. Adrien showed his gratitude to her by mouthing the words thank you, after leaping in the water like a crazed maniac, in his opinion. He was ecstatic and relieved to be finally back in the ocean, with the uncomfortable dryness gone from his scales. He had swum not far out before he saw a very pale looking Plagg swimming around in fast, tight circles. Adrien chuckled to himself, and swam in the shadows silently to the catfish.

"Gotcha!", Adrien laughed. Plagg yelped, tumbling in the water, only to swivel around with a furious expression on his face. "GODS...Adrien, don't just scare me like that! I've been waiting here for almost an hour, where the HELL have you been?! Exploring?!" Plagg was angry alright, and his fins stood up behind him in sharp spikes. Adrien was taken aback, surprised by the sudden attack of the little catfish. Plagg had never acted this way...not even with the fisherman's incident. What seemed like a joke, seemed less of one now, and Adrien now felt terribly sorry for worrying his friend like that. Plagg stared at him with a disapproving look. "Well?! Tell me what took you so long!" Adrien hung his head in shame. "L-look...", he stammered. "I'm sorry for scaring you and not listening to you, but..." He held his head up to give Plagg eye contact. "...You might want to sit down for this story, it's quite long, and I'm not sure how you'll exactly take it." Adrien motioned to a rock near them, Plagg following close behind, his face still angry but traced with curiosity.

Marinette pulled her arms around her body tighter. It was now early morning, but still freezing nevertheless. She was shaking from head to toe, and it didn't help at all that she was drenched with salt water. At least it was light enough for her to manage her way back to the bakery and her home in time before her dad had to wake up at four in the morning to start up the bakery. Marinette half ran on her way, hoping she could at least squeeze in a few hours of sleep. She opened the door to the bakery and the warmth enveloped her. _Ahhh...,_ she sighed. She was finally back to where she belonged. Once in her room she quickly threw off her soggy hoodie and changed into a dry pair of pajamas. Without bothering to shower, she collapsed into her bed. She fell into a deep sleep once her head hit her pillow, letting her dreams take her away.

 _She was in the ocean. Light blue aqua water surrounded her. Warm sunlight streamed through the waves, shimmering on the white sand of the ocean floor. Tiny multicolored fish swam past in no hurry. But something was different. Marinette was...laughing? Yes, she was. A merboy around her age swam lazily beside her, and he was laughing as well. Marinette looked closer at him. His eyes were closed and he was swimming on his back. From his blonde hair sprouted cat-ear like fins. He wore a simple black mask. His tail and fins were all black, with the tail shinning and crystalline when the sun hits it. A simple black collar with a golden bell was placed on his neck. Lastly, a black ring with an interesting lime green paw print rest on his right ring finger. Marinette found herself talking to the boy. "Chat Noir, are you sure this is a good idea...?" The boy apparently called Chat Noir opened his eyes and grinned, his green eyes glinting. Chat winked and asked innocently, "Is my lady scared?" Marinette opened her mouth to reply..._

A loud thud woke up Marinette from her sleep. She yawned and stretched, checking the time on her phone. It read seven in the morning. Her father was already down in the bakery getting the pastries and breads ready for the day. _Papa probably just dropped a bag of flour or something...,_ Marinette thought drifting off to sleep again. Her pillow felt lumpy, as if there was something underneath. Half asleep, she put her hand under the pillow. Her hands clamped around two hard but smooth objects. She pulled them out and opened her hands slowly. A storm of questions flooded her mind as she saw what's inside. A pair of dark red earrings glittered in them.


	5. Chapter 5

Marinette continued to stare at the earrings, entranced by its shiny luster and fine significance. She carefully examined them, moving them around her palms. She felt a strange urge to put them on. After carefully putting on each earring she took down a hand mirror from her bed shelf. The dark red earrings complimented her dark blue hair. Marinette was still staring at her reflection in the mirror when she remembered what happened last night. She was still a little damp from falling into the ocean, and she didn't take a shower yet. Her clothes, skin, and hair smelled of salt.

She decided to take a shower first, have breakfast, and then search up where the earrings might have come from. It was a Saturday morning anyways, and Marinette had no plans that day. After peeling off her smelly wet clothing, she hopped into the shower. Without realizing it, she started humming the same music that drove her to the ocean. The warm shower water rained down on Marinette. As she reached for her shampoo bottle, she felt a sharp pain in her legs.

She clutched them, wondering what the heck was going on. It just kept getting worse. Her feet all the way to her torso started prickling uncomfortably as she tried to ease the pain by massaging her legs. She fell down on the bathroom floor. The weirdest thing was happening. Her legs started to wrap together tightly, like if someone was wrapping them in duck tape. The prickling and pain had stopped in replace of cold flushes. Marinette stared at her legs, mortified at what she saw. Different shades of crimson scales mutated from them. Her feet started to extend, stretching out until they were no longer feet, but two transparent fins. This went on for a minute longer. Marinette was closing her eyes for the remaining process, and when the pain and uncomfortableness went away completely, she managed to open one eye slowly. Her expression read shocked disbelief. Instead of her legs, there lay a long crimson tail with light pink fins.

Adrien had just told Plagg about his story on the beach but was seriously starting to regret it. At several points, Plagg literally looked like he wanted to strangle Adrien with his little fins, at other points Plagg looked like he was gonna pass out himself. Now, Adrien was in his room throwing stray pebbles against its cave walls. He gave up and sank to the ground sighing in defeat. As a punishment for life threatening himself, he was grounded for a whole month. This meant no explorations, no midnight swims, and no freedom...according to Adrien. Plagg had even told his parents what had happen and they were pretty upset with him too. They had sent him to his room to think about what he had done.

An hour had passed and Adrien was sick of staying in his room with nothing to do. He swam out silently and peered into the main room. Plagg's parents were out scavenging food for dinner that night and Plagg was snoring softly on a soft seaweed rug in the middle of the floor. A few stray pieces of walrus cheese lay by his side. Adrien rolled his eyes this time. He loved exploring as much as Plagg loved his sea cheese. Adrien looked out of the entrance of the cave. If he was really careful and quiet he could get out for a quick swim and come back without anyone noticing. He darted behind a squishy orange anemone that served as a couch, receiving only a light grunt from Plagg, who shifted a bit in is sleep. Sighing in relief that he didn't get caught, Adrien swam low but fast to the exit of the cave. He zoomed out with a cheery grin on his face. Finally, he had some freedom to do whatever he wanted.

Marinette rubbed her eyes continuously. Her eyes _must_ be playing tricks on her. Alas, her legs were still a tail. She awkwardly lifted it up a few inches with gravity pulling it down again. Her fins caused the water in the shower to splash outside it. Marinette grumbled and slapped her palm to her forehead. Surely this was just another crazy dream. _Wait...the DREAM!_ Marinette looked at herself again and turned her body to the full length mirror. Her tail also came with a matching scaled top which molded to fit Marinette's chest perfectly. She thought to herself as she moved in different angles in front of the mirror. _I actually...I actually look like a mermaid? But how..._ Marinette heard footsteps coming upstairs and panicked. What if someone saw her like this?! There was a knock at the bathroom door and Marinette's mother's sweet voice rang out. "Honey, are you okay in there? I heard some noises..." Marinette panicked as her mom was slowly turning the door handle. In haste, Marinette forgot to lock it. She quickly did what came to her mind just then.

Her tail slapped at the doorway blocking it. "Uh yeah mom...I'm totally fine", Marinette called out nervously. "Um...but would you mind if I uh dry off first?" Marinette's mom gave a quizzical look outside the door but responded. "Sure honey, I'll be downstairs if you need me." With that, she walked away. Marinette came back to focus on her tail. The bulkiness of it made it a little difficult to move around in, but luckily, her towel had fallen down from its hook. _Actually...drying myself isn't such a bad idea..._ She took the towel and started drying her tail and the rest of her body. Her tail started melting away about five minutes later, her legs returning. She smiled due to the fact her plan worked. The connection between what happened last night right up to this very moment must mean something...and Marinette was determined to find out what.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back! This chapter is gonna involve some more serious topics as in why Marinette turned into a mermaid. Also, it will brush up a little on Adrien's backstory, but please keep in mind that this is just a fanfic and I'm literally just coming up with ideas as I go along. On a side note, I hope you find this chapter interesting! ;)**

Marinette opened the bathroom door slowly. The more she thought about her being a mermaid connecting with what happened last night, the more she was confused. She racked her brain for any detail she had missed. No such luck, nothing seemed to make sense. She grabbed her hair in frustration and started pacing her room, completely forgetting about her plans and even breakfast for that matter. She finally slumped in her chair and laid her head on the table. All of this thinking was giving her a terrible migraine.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe she was just imagining all of this, or maybe this was just some colossal dream. It couldn't be real, could it? Sunlight poured through her window brightening the pink walls in her room. Marinette opened her eyes a bit and remembered about the earrings. She sat up, turning on her computer. Maybe she couldn't figure out what the whole "mermaid" thing was about, but at least she could search up where the earrings came from. She sat there thoughtfully tapping her keyboard. "Shiny red earrings...hmmm...", she mumbled to herself. Clicking images didn't do anything but come up with random pictures of things she definitely didn't have in mind. One picture though was quite odd. It showed a realistic hand drawn picture of a mermaid wearing a similar pair of earrings, only this time they were bright red with five black spots on them. Marinette quirked her eyebrows, clearly puzzled.

Opening a new tab, she searched up "mermaid". The more she searched up, the more things started to kind of fall in place. She read legends and myths about them and viewed many pictures, most of them making her doubt her belief in anything. She was quickly scrolling down her search when an article exclaiming, " **Live Mermaid Spotted 5/25/2000** " popped up. Marinette stopped scrolling abruptly. No...this couldn't be... According to the date in the article, the mermaid was seen on May 25, the year 2000, Marinette's _exact_ birthday. She stopped staring to numbly press the article. There was an explanation on what was happening that day. She read the article out loud.

 _On May 25th, 2000, a mermaid was spotted off near the coast in Paris, France. Storms were raging this day, unlike anything we saw. The tides were crashing against the rocks and swallowed whole chunks of land. However, in the midst of things, we saw a woman against a stray rock in the middle of the ocean fearfully clutching a bundle which appeared to be wrapped in a seaweed of some sort. Treacherous waters were about, what was she thinking, swimming at a time like this? After some time we saw her go underwater. We thought she had drowned, but not before spotting her tail, which was the most gorgeous lime green color. Can there really be mermaids out there, somewhere? Only God knows. This has been Nadia Chamack, bringing you news right here, right when it happens, signing off._

Marinette stopped reading, stunned. She scrolled down the article a little more finding blurry pictures of the raging stormy weather and the mermaid herself. She seemed awfully familiar, too much so to be a coincidence. Marinette squinted at the picture, trying to ignore the bad quality of it. The mermaid had almond shaped eyes the color of deep green seaweed. Golden blonde hair stuck to her face and down her back from the constant spray of seawater. Her tail and fins were a beautiful shade of lime green. If it were not for the fearful expression on her face, she was actually quite breathtaking. Marinette's eyes trailed to the bundle the mermaid seemed very protective of. It was wrapped in a blanket of seaweed. She concentrated and saw tiny lime green fins poking out from the back. A small head with a tuft of blonde hair peeked out from the seaweed, his eyes closed.

Marinette gasped, covering her hands over her mouth. Now she knows _why_ the mermaid looked so familiar. This mermaid just so happened to be the _mother_ of the merboy who saved her last night. The boy last night...he didn't seem to have a family at all. Riding the waves, doing whatever he pleased for what seemed like fifteen and a half years! Yet something still felt amiss.

The mermaid was spotted on Marinette's birthday. Marinette had been having insomnia for several days so far, the fourth day being the day she fell into the ocean from beautiful music. Music from sirens, obviously, she concluded from her research. Then, instead of drowning, she gets saved by a merboy her age who claimed that he needed _her_ help. She thought back to what happened last night a second time. The tides! That must have been some sort of magic, right? Under her pillow were strange earrings that the mermaid in the hand drawn picture wore. Finally, when she came in contact with water, she sprouted a tail. _Not pleasantly I'll say...Marinette grumbled, still shuddering at the prickling uncomfortableness of the transformation._

It all made sense now. At least Marinette was sure of it. She shut off her computer and stood up. There was really only one thing left to do. She gulped, cringing at the pain she'd have to witness again. She needed to find this mysterious merboy in the ocean itself and when she does, question the HELL out of him.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know about the mistake I made regarding Marinette's birthday. In my fanfic, she is actually fifteen turning sixteen and not seventeen turning eighteen, therefore her birthday is May 25th, 2002; not 2000. Anyways...eheh...that's about it, let's get to the chapter now.**

Marinette knew she had to assemble a plan quickly. She had no idea where this merboy was, and she did not even know where to begin searching for him. _I might as well start by going **to** the ocean, _Marinette thought to herself as she rolled her eyes and smiled. She tiptoed downstairs quietly, totally forgetting about her mom. She was just about to grasp open the door handle when she heard her talking from right behind her. Marinette froze in her tracks.

"Sweetie, where are you going this time of hour? Usually you would still be in bed on a Saturday", her mom asked worriedly. Marinette had to bite her lip to prevent her from spilling the truth. "In fact", her mom paused to lower the mug she was holding, "You've been acting quite strange this morning. Are you feeling alright? Is there something you want to tell me?" Marinette was panicking on the inside. She hadn't thought about all the answers she would have to make up for her strange actions. She avoided her mom's gaze and nervously twirled her fingers. "Umm...I just wanted to go for a walk for fresh air and exercise...", she mumbled under her breath. But before her mother had the chance to reply; Marinette rushed out the door, her palms sweaty with guilty relief.

She felt awful lying to her mom like that, but then again, what would she even say? Her mom would freak out if she discovered she was part "fish". She shook her head, throwing out all the negativity and guilt bundled inside of her. She needed to concentrate on the task at hand. Go to the ocean. Find the boy. Tell him to change her back. Then, at least she would be a normal girl again. Should be simple enough, right? She stopped abruptly, unaware of how fast it took her to walk to the beach compared to last night. The waves were stretching outwards, almost touching Marinette's toes. She backed up quickly but then stopped. If she was going to do this, she would have to face her fear, and that would mean... _gulp..._ going in the water.

She inched slowly at first, but then gave up and started walking faster and faster into the water. She could already feel the prickling sensation in her legs, feet, and torso. She was about three feet in the water. Sudden sounds of people talking and laughing snapped up to her attention. She whipped her head around to see a group of people settling down on the beach. She looked back into the deep blue of the ocean. She _must_ not let them see her, or her tail, for that matter. She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut as she dived into the ocean with a small splash.

Marinette was just below the surface when her legs were transforming into a tail. Through her shut eyes she could feel the binding of them and the cold flushes. Oddly enough, the transformation seemed to have hurt less when she was underwater. A minute passed. Marinette could no longer feel her two legs, but one powerful tail. She opened her eyes, expecting the salt of the ocean to burn them. Instead she saw normally, and perhaps even better in the salt water than she ever did on land.

She took in the scenery of the ocean. Sure, she was only a few feet underwater, but it was a still breathtaking sight. The morning sun was just peeking out and the soft rays lit up the ocean. The sand was the purest white and there were colorful corals everywhere. She watched a few angelfish swim past her, giving her quizzical looks. She realized just then that she was still holding her breath. She was underwater...she couldn't possibly be able to breathe. Her air was running out quickly, and Marinette was still trying her best to hold it in. Finally, she couldn't hold it in anymore. _Please let me survive, please let me survive, please let me survive,_ Marinette thought fiercely.

She let go of her breath. She was breathing in short rapid breaths. Marinette was shocked. Water didn't come into her body and drowned her like how it would be for a human being. She smiled and giggled, breathing in deeply. Marinette soon found herself distracted from her mission, exploring the ocean and all its wonders. She was just swimming through the colorful corals, swirling up the sand when her thoughts came back to her. She slapped her head, dropping the beautiful cream seashell she was clutching. _How?!_ How in the world did she get so distracted? She should be resenting every moment in the ocean but instead, found herself enjoying it.

She swam up to get a better view of the ocean. Everything seemed as it was, with nothing extraordinary about it. Where in the world would a boy who lives in the sea even live? Marinette swam in one direction but then decided to swim the other way. This went on for quite some time before she realized she circled the same rock five times. She groaned, her hands on her face. _This is not happening to me..._ Something must've heard her then, because a strong water current tumbled right into her making her to fall flat on her stomach in the water. Marinette squealed in surprise, trying to get back up again and swim out. But the water current shaped itself to be like a powerful invisible surfboard, and Marinette was on it.

Before she had time to process what was going on, the water current burst through the water, so fast it was making Marinette's hair and tail fly backwards. The water was swirling past her with such ferocity that she was forced to shut her eyes and let the water current take her wherever it pleases.

Adrien was silently swimming around a coral. He has been out of the house for three hours now, feeling guilty about disobeying his adopted family. He stopped swimming and sighed, laying back on the coral. He thumped his fins on the sand amusingly and fiddled with his ring. He looked up towards the surface remembering what he had done. How was the girl now? Did she make it back to her house? These sorts of questions flooded his mind as he continued looking up. There was a sudden shift in the water, making Adrien's spine tingle. _Hmm...that was weird...,_ he thought. Maybe he should be heading home right about now and the ocean was agreeing with him.

Standing up, he began swimming home, but was caught off guard when he heard someone cry, "WATCH OUT!" Adrien turned his head around to see a blur of a mermaid with shiny crimson scales flying right to him. His eyes widened in surprise and confusion, preparing to dive out of her way. The mermaid was too quick though and instead crashed into him, the impact sending them both tumbling to the sand.


	8. Chapter 8

The first thing Marinette saw when she opened her eyes were another pair of eyes staring right back at her. The exact _same_ green eyes she saw the night before. She could feel the blush creeping up her neck and to her cheeks as her mouth started moving but no words came out. She was laying on the sand in an awkward position, her tail flopped out right in front of her and her hands laid beside her head. The boy was on top of her, and he looked extremely embarrassed. This staring and blushing went on for a while.

Adrien managed to compose himself. "U-ummm...sorry, I should get off you now, eheh...", he managed to stutter out, not meeting the mermaid's gaze. He picked himself up from the sand, making him able to see the mermaid more clearly. It took him a few seconds to realize who she was. His mouth gaped open as he took in her dark blue hair and bluebell eyes. His eyes finally traveled down to her tail, a beautiful crimson color, glinting from the sunlight streaming through the water. He realized that she was still on the sand, trying to get up, but failing miserably. _How rude of me..._ he thought.

He held out his right hand to the girl and gave a warm smile. "Let me help you up." The girl hesitated for a moment before deciding to take his hand. The moment their hands touched, a warm fizzy sensation went through both of them, pulsating throughout the whole ocean. Adrien was so shocked that he almost let go of her hand, the girl had a similar reaction. She slowly rised from the sand, her eyes darting from his hand to his face. They slowly swam around each other getting a better look. Adrien finally broke the silence. "So...I take that this is your first time as a mermaid?" He grinned. The girl stopped swimming to cross her arms and give him an annoyed look.

Marinette couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was a _mermaid_ now, which was beyond weird for her. The boy didn't seem to care though, and the fact that he didn't apologize for turning her into a "fish-mutant" tore her to pieces. "I wouldn't be a mermaid if it wasn't for you!", she snapped. The boy looked at her in surprise, probably shocked of the unnatural mean attitude the girl was giving. "Wait...what?", he responded, clearly puzzled. "If you're talking about you being a mermaid, that has nothing to do with me. Look...we got off at a bad start, let's start over." Marinette, arms still crossed, shortly nodded her head. "Fine...but you'd better make it quick."

"Well for starters...my name is Adrien, I am a merman...obviously", he chuckled to himself. "I um...am an orphan, but don't worry, I have an adopted family..." His voice trailed off, leaving the silence of the ocean to envelope the two. The girl slowly unfolded her arms, her eyes not meeting his. "Oh...I didn't know...I'm sorry. More silence followed. "...My name is Marinette," she finally said, meeting his gaze. "I am a normal teenager with a normal life."

Marinette glanced at her tail. "...Well almost normal", she said, giggling. "So...what do we do now?", Adrien asked. Marinette tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Gee...I don't know. My initial plan was to confront you for turning me into a mermaid with whatever weirdo powers you merpeople have, but then you said you _didn't_ do it, and now I am beyond confused." She paused to take a breath. "I still need answers, however, I can't live in my world where there are water danger zones everywhere with the risk of sprouting a tail just about anywhere."

Adrien understood. How could he not? After all, if he was somehow turned into a human, he would probably be freaking out more than Marinette. Something in his heart told him something though, and the moment their hands touched, there was that warm fizzy feeling; exactly like last night when Adrien saved her from drowning. Maybe...maybe it meant something. It was like the ocean itself was calling them to find each other, mess with their beliefs and heart, but why? He decided to just speak up.

"W-what if you're meant to be a mermaid?", he asked cautiously, afraid of her answer. She stared back at him intently with a raised eyebrow. "Why would you say such a thing? I told you I am just a normal girl...it's not like I wished for this to happen." Adrien wasn't paying attention. He was too busy staring at her earrings, which were glowing a bright red. In fact...he glanced at his own hand. His ring was emitting a shiny white glow. Curiously, he swam closer to Marinette, until they were just inches apart. "Um...what are you doing?", she asked suspiciously.

"Your earrings...", Adrien began. "Why are they glowing?" Marinette noticed the soft red glow illuminating on her cheeks. She cupped her ears with her hands. "I-I don't know, this morning when I woke up, I found these earrings under my pillow, a-and I thought they were so pretty...so I put them on...", she rambled. "Hmmm...I wonder", Adrien thought aloud. He brought up his ring finger. The closer it was to the earrings, the more it shined. The earrings had the same reaction, and burned a brighter red. Marinette could feel the glow intensifying and saw what Adrien was trying to do. She quickly took off her earrings and inched them closer to his ring.

Sucking in her breath, Marinette glanced up to look at Adrien. The light from both jewels emitted a pink glow. Adrien caught her gaze before nodding curtly. Slowly, they joined the jewels. A split second passed by and there was a bright golden glow and a strong current pulsated through the ocean, knocking Marinette and Adrien to the sand floor once more, the jewels still clutched in their hands.


	9. Chapter 9

"Urrrggghhh...", Marinette groaned, rubbing her eyes. How long was she on the sand floor? She sat up with difficulty, instantly squinting at the random bright white light that was right in front of her. She remembered Adrien and looked around frantically for him. He turned out to be right next to her, but standing up. His green eyes were glowing with curiosity and he was swimming closer to the bright white light, fingers outstretched. Marinette's conscious kicked in as she automatically got up, swirling the sand in a cloud. "WAIT, ADRIEN DON'T TOUCH TH-", Marinette yelled. Too late. Adrien's fingers already brushed on the light, causing him to disappear entirely _into_ it in another flash of blinding white light.

"No!" Marinette cried. She glanced over to the bright white light from where Adrien vanished. It was still pulsing with great intensity. There was only one thing left to do, but first...she felt the earrings in her hand and quickly put them back on. She swam closer to the light, hands clammy. There was a light swirl pattern right at the core of the pulsing light. She looked to her left and right and then, sucking in her breath, leaped into the light. Marinette witnessed a great dizziness as she tumbled through a pulsing current of bright white energy. After a few minutes there was an ending of the current leading to a dark menacingly blue ocean, causing Marinette to gulp.

Adrien clutched his head with his right hand in pain. The ride over to this new ocean accidentally caused him to bang his head. He winced in pain as he gazed around his new surroundings. Instead of the peaceful warm waters of light blue ocean, there lay a dark blue ocean, the sand a musty color. Thick, green, kelp fronds sprouted from the sand, swaying high. A bright light flashed behind Adrien, and a squealing mermaid was thrown out. Adrien turned around in surprise and caught Marinette by her arms before she fell into him. Marinette blushed and muttered a word of thanks.

She stood up looking around her surroundings before letting her gaze settle on Adrien. She crossed her her arms, an annoyed look etched on her face. Adrien caught her expression and shrugged, grinning nervously. Marinette just slapped her palm and shook her head. "So how are we going to get out of here?", she asked. "Well..., Adrien began, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Our jewels caused a portal of some sort and it wouldn't have done that without a purpose. I honestly think we should explore and find out what's going on." He began swimming around the ocean, observing everything. "Of course you would think that", Marinette mumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes.

She watched Adrien swim in circles and got bored. Sitting on a dark gray rock, she took in the scenery. The water had a sort of chill to it that made her shiver. Her eyes traveled to a dimming golden light darting in a pattern behind a kelp frond. _Look away...look away,_ she thought fiercely, but she could not help but stare at the golden light. The pattern was so unique, the brightness so alluring. Marinette inched closer to the light.

Adrien stopped swimming, clearly confused. "Hmm...that's strange. There's nothing special about this place. Why would our jewels send us here? What do you think Mari? ...Marinette?" He turned around to see Marinette following a bright light. _And you thought I was the curious one,_ he thought smiling to himself, an eyebrow rised. He swam closer to her and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Hey Marinette, are you okay?" Marinette looked at him and nodded shortly. "I think we need to follow this light...see the pattern it's making? It's trying to tell us something...", she began. "Right, makes sense", he agreed.

The closer they got to the golden light, the more it moved back. They began swimming after the light, dodging the kelp fronds. The light suddenly stopped, causing Marinette to back up into Adrien. "You gotta stop bumping into me like this", Adrien laughed. "Shut up, it's not like I want to...", muttered Marinette with an angry and embarrassed flush on her cheeks. "Anyways, look, the light has stopped. Probably because of that cave over there", she said, nodding her head over.

"A mysterious cave in the middle of a dark ocean. Sounds like something straight out of a horror movie", Adrien grumbled. Marinette looked at him with a look of curiousness. "What? I know _some_ things about humans...", he said, catching her gaze. She sighed. "Whatever, let's just get this over with." They swam over from the kelp fronds they were hiding from and swam to the entrance to the cave. A shiny crystal like rock shifted to an opening. The two merpeople glanced at each other nervously before tentatively swimming in.

The inside of the cave was very rustic looking, the shelves containing strange items. Adrien eyes widened when he saw the contents of the cave. He had never, in his life, saw something as unique as this. He was about to swim off when he felt Marinette grab his hand. He blushed, looking at her in surprise. "Stay here, I don't want to lose you again", she said in a low voice. Adrien could only nod as his pulse quickened. Marinette led him along the dark cave, keeping her attention to an ancient wooden table at the end of the cave. Adrien could do nothing but numbly swim alongside her, more silent than he had ever been before.

They arrived at the table, peering around the cave once more. Marinette let go of Adrien's hand. Adrien nervously rubbed his neck. "Hello, Ladybug, Chat Noir," said a voice out of nowhere. Both jumped at the sound, and Marinette and Adrien frantically looked around, trying to find where the mysterious voice had came from. In the darkest corner of the cave there was an old bent figure of a merman, his tail tucked in underneath him.


	10. Chapter 10

The old merman slowly brought his gaze to the two young merpeople. His eyes were mysteriously glinting in the low light of the cave. Two dark red cushions made of sea silk appeared right under them. "Sit, please," he said in a soft voice. Marinette stole a glance at Adrien. Should she trust this merman? Adrien just simply sat on the cushion and looked at the merman curiously. Marinette slowly did the same as well, awkwardly shifting her tail in a comfortable position.

There was some silence. Marinette was getting a bit anxious. She cleared her throat. "Um excuse me, Mr...uh..."

"Call me Master Fu," the old merman smiled, wrinkles forming at the eyes as he did. More silence. "So, uh Master Fu...as you can see we are very confused as to why we are here. Is there something going on? I mean I've only been a mermaid for a little while and I..." Marinette trailed off as Master Fu held his hand up for her to stop speaking.

"I know what you are about to ask. It is better if I show you."

He held out his wrist, a jade green pendant the shape of a sea turtle glowing brightly. Adrien's eyes widened in excitement. "T-that's the legendary jewel of Carapace isn't it? I heard about it from the sea creatures." Master Fu nodded his head. "You are correct my boy, but we all must be silent now...the magic will not work as well in noise.

"Also, before we go..." he said, turning to the two, "you might need to brace yourself, going back in time can seriously affect someone if they do not concentrate. My advice is to clear your mind and think of absolutely nothing for the time being." Marinette gulped. _Going back in TIME?!_

What the heck was this old man rambling on about?

Adrien saw the scared look on Marinette's face. "I'm sure it will be fine," he reassured her. He gave a shy smile to Marinette as she returned a nervous one back. After both were somewhat prepared, Master Fu waved a hand over the glowing jewel, causing the cave to disintegrate into nothingness. The world around them now was blank and empty. The darkness consumed everything. All around them, there was a gentle humming noise, just out of grasp.

Marinette tried to do what Master Fu had told them, but it was just so hard. She couldn't help but recall her worst past memories for some reason. It was like the space time continuum they seem to be in was messing with her head. From the time she got bullied to the time she scraped her knee from falling and getting humiliated... _no, just ignore it Mari...keep it together..._ Sharp pains shot up her head, causing a horrific ache.

Adrien sensed her pain. Even though he himself naturally felt calm and happy even without a real family, Adrien still understood the confusion and terrified thoughts Marinette had. He inched closer to her and linked arms with hers. She looked up in surprise. "Everything will be okay" he said, mouthing the words.

The minute seemed to last an hour as Marinette experienced cold thoughts but with a warm heart. These feelings confused her. She had never witnessed anything like it before yet...she smiled letting her bad thoughts drift away, a warm blush blooming on her cheeks, head rested on his shoulder. _WAIT. What was she doing?!_ She tried to snap out of her strange actions, yet she was extremely drowsy, and couldn't seem to move from her original state.

A strong current caused Marinette and Adrien to get swept back a few feet. They have arrived. Master fu was calm and collected however, making Adrien and Marinette look quite foolish. They collected themselves up. Marinette quickly looked away avoiding Adrien's eyes. The ocean was rambunctious and dark. Every living thing seemed to hide away, leaving the ocean very lifeless. In the distance above shore, there were thunderstorms, and lightning striked occasionally making random bolts of white light flash underwater. Master Fu turned around with a solemn expression etched on his face.

"This is where it all begins. As you can see, it is quite dangerous in these waters, so I want you to follow and pay attention to me closely." He began to swim, wearily looking at his surroundings while doing so. Marinette and Adrien followed closely behind. After about a few minutes of swimming, they arrived at the exact same place they were in, fifteen years in the past. The cave still pretty much looked the same, except for the fact that it had a brighter shine to it.

The crystal opening gave way for the merpeople to swim in. "Now listen to me," began Master Fu. "In this past we will see many different merpeople...it is wise that they do no see us. Whatever you do, do NOT change the past, it will effect the future gravely." He held out his hand, transparent pearls apparated in them. He handed each of them a pearl and kept one for himself. They began fading away. Marinette let out a high shriek and quickly covered her mouth. Adrien stifled a laugh. "Marinette...don't worry, mer magic is usually painless."

Marinette uncovered her mouth. "Ohhh...er...sorry, I just panicked...", she said, flustering. They swam down the corridor of the cave and stopped at the wooden table. A younger version of Master Fu swam around panickingly, stopping at each corner of the room checking something on strange items like seaweed scrolls, an odd looking telescope, and finally a crystal ball. He was muttering some strange words. "Master Fu, can you explain what's going on?", asked Marinette. Master Fu shushed her and nodded his head over to his younger self, implying her to just watch.

Younger Fu stopped short. "No no no...this is not good. IT has been stolen from the gods, they are raging." The merpeople watched closely as young Fu swam over to a crater, opening it up with an old golden key. He slipped his hand in it drawing out two sparkling jewels. Dark red earrings and a silver ring.

This time it was Adrien's turn to react. All his life he had wondered where his ring had come from, what it meant, never noticing that it was a powerful and legendary jewel. He swam a little closer to it, forgetting everything Master Fu was telling him. He was about to reach out and touch the jewels when he was pulled back with a powerful water tentacle. Master Fu lowered his arm and looked at him sternly. "What did I tell you? Just _watch_." Adrien just nodded sadly.

 _For the first time, I might finally get to know where I came from...who my parents are...or **were** , _he thought to himself.

 **A/N: So, I'm really sorry for not updating lately. I have just been really busy with schoolwork and exams. I'm a bit less busy than usual, so I MIGHT be able to update next week as well.**

 **Also, did you guys notice the little clues I imputed referring to Season 2? ;D**


	11. Chapter 11

Adrien stood there motionless in his thoughts. He watched silently along with Marinette and Master Fu at Master Fu's younger self. Younger Fu was swimming towards the old wood table clutching the jewels, looking like a man on a mission. He set the jewels on the crystal ball on a velvet pillow in the center of the table. The merpeople watched curiously as younger Fu began swimming around the table raising his arms and reciting an incantation in ancient Chinese.

 _Huh, that must mean that we are in...CHINA?! That portal took us from France's waters overseas_ _to China?!_

Marinette shook her head. This was all way too much, but then again she did travel through _time._ Her thoughts were interrupted when there was a familiar pulsing movement through the ocean. The jewels on the crystal ball have disappeared.

"All right then," present Fu said. He flicked his fingers and a milky white border enclosed the three. "What you have seen in there sealed your future. That was indeed me, fifteen years in the past. You see, something terrible has happened and that's why this ocean is dark and treacherous. Those jewels you possess right now...they are not ordinary jewelry. They are called the "Miraculous" and they used to be the ancient god's powerful relics." Marinette and Adrien stared blankly at him. Master Fu sighed. "You are now bonded to these jewels. Your mission, which is why you're here, is to retrieve the missing jewels that were stolen. The gods are angry, especially at me, since I am the guardian of the Miraculous."

"...Is this why I'm a mermaid?" Marinette slowly said. Master Fu nodded his head. "I needed two strong people who are both from land and sea. You see...some jewels may or may not be found in the ocean, but on land, so it is vital that at least one of you have legs." _Why us...,_ Adrien thought silently. He cleared his throat. "Um Master Fu, why did you choose us specifically?"

Master Fu smiled. "That is an excellent question." Fu waved his hand and the border fell down. He then snapped his fingers. There was a whoosh of air. "I'll start with Marinette first, and Adrien, the reason why I chose you is a little more...well, a little more complicated." Adrien raised an eyebrow. _What the heck did that mean?!_

In an instant they traveled to Marinette's home and bakery, fifteen years in the past as well. The merpeople were floating in the air, concealed in a water filled bubble. Master Fu saw the panicked look on Marinette's face. "Do not fret, my child, your parents or anybody who comes in here will not see us," Master Fu said in a calming voice. They watched as Marinette's parents, Tom and Sabine came in. Sabine was in a wheelchair holding a tiny baby that was fast asleep. They were both really happy but exhausted at the same time. Adrien looked at baby Marinette and couldn't help but smile. _She was such a cute baby,_ he thought.

Marinette was blushing deeply. She had no idea that Master Fu would take them to her home, or to see her as a baby. Master Fu waved at them to get their attention. Once they got his attention he said, "Marinette, from the moment you were born, I could not help but love the cheerful and happy aura you always displayed and others displayed around you. You were a very lighthearted young girl with a feisty spirit and I liked that about you. Growing up, you were always willing to help others, even if that means giving up on something you wanted. I noticed that you would be willing to take the responsibility to help save the ocean." He paused as they watched Marinette's parents play with baby Marinette, and she was gurgling happily.

"Right." Master Fu clapped his hands and they were back in the ocean in a flash of light. A white portal with a swirl pattern inside of it shone right in front of them. It was the exact same portal that took them to this ocean in the first place. Master Fu turned to them. "We would need to travel to France again to show you why I chose Adrien." Adrien and Marinette looked at each other with a puzzled expression before jumping in the portal after Master Fu.

About a minute of dizziness later, they arrived in France, only this time at night. They seemed to be inside a water crater, that was decorated with a lot of humanized things. The only source of light was the glowing lava lamp filled with moon jellyfish in the back of the crater. A young mermaid swam in with a seaweed sling wrapped around her neck. Her bright blonde hair fell loosely down her back, her lime green tail and fins propelling her. Inside the seaweed sling, a baby with golden blonde hair and green eyes was cooing. The mermaid stopped to kiss the top of the baby's head. "Hush, my Adrien, I'll only be here for a minute, and then we could go up to meet your father okay?"

Marinette watched the young mermaid in awe. So _she's_ the mermaid Marinette saw in the article. Marinette hid a smile. Judging by the looks of things, it appears that Adrien's mother was a very curious mermaid, and loved collecting things above the sea. "I wonder who this mermaid reminds me of..." she said quietly to Adrien. No response. Marinette turned to him questionably. Adrien was stiff, barely moving a muscle. Tears were forming at the corners of his eyes from the scene. Marinette opened her mouth to talk, but then shut it. It's better if she didn't talk right at the moment.

They followed Adrien's mom as she swam up to the surface, her head breaking through the water gracefully. Baby Adrien started crying because of the sudden shift to oxygen. Adrien's mom was rocking Adrien and shushing him, lulling him to sleep. They turned out to be in an open area. There was grass and trees on the land. Adrien's mom swam up to the shallow end of the ocean pool, propping herself against a rock. Her tail was floating up and down in the shallow water. There was a rustling of footsteps as a man walked from behind a tree. "Gabriel!" Adrien's mom called out, waving her hand. The man named Gabriel came jogging to her. They embraced, Adrien's mom getting a quick kiss. "How's my little boy?" Gabriel baby-talked to Adrien, bending down next to his wife in the water. Baby Adrien giggled, his tiny fins flapping excitingly.

They were silently talking to each other when shouts of other men came crashing down into the area. A group of men in a navy blue uniform with the brand CRU stopped short to see Gabriel and the mermaid in the water. The leader of the men, a rough looking man with dark brown hair and light brown skin pointed at the mermaid. "Men, you know what to do!" He yelled. Adrien's mother screamed as they almost caught her with a net made of iron. Baby Adrien was crying again, loudly. Gabriel was in front of her, shielding her with his body. "THEO, stop this nonsense at once!" The leader, Theo ignored him as he briskly refilled a gun with tranquilizer bullets, lowering it to the mermaid's heart. Gabriel turned around to his wife, his face filled with fear. "GO NOW! SAVE YOURSELF, SAVE ADRIEN!!!" He cried. The bullet was released. Gabriel threw himself at it, getting hit in the chest.

With a moments hesitation, Adrien's mother plunged back into the water, cradling baby Adrien close to her. Tears formed at her eyes and down her cheeks when she heard the furious shouts of the men. Theo clenched his fist. They didn't get the mermaid this time, but they did have an advantage. _There is no HELL way that mermaid is going to leave her precious Gabriel behind, and when she does return,_ Theo fiddled with the trigger, _my men and I will finish her once and for all._

Master Fu sped the time with a wave of his fingers for them to see a bedraggled Adrien's mom. Her hair was a tangled mess and her usually shiny lime tail was dull and missing a few scales. There were dark circles under her eyes, a sign showing that she has been traveling the waters for several sleepless nights. Baby Adrien was fast asleep, thankfully for his mother. They watched as she lowered Adrien, bundled up in the seaweed blanket to the sand floor, right next to a small kelp bed. She had written a note with his name on it. Adrien's mom started weeping and finally kissing Adrien one last time on the cheek she whispered, "Stay safe my son, I can't promise I'll be there in the future, but I can promise you that you'll grow up to be a fine young merman, you will be loved by a caring family...and don't you worry about me, I already know what's in it for my future." She gave one last look at Adrien before slowly swimming away. As soon as she was gone, a silver ring apparated in a mass of golden sparkles next to the bundle, glinting in the low light of the moon underwater.

Adrien stood silently next to Marinette and Master Fu. His hands were balled up into fists. White hot tears streamed down his cheeks. What surprised him the most was that his father was actually a human, but then when he saw how much his mother loved him and he loved her, it didn't even matter. His parents, they loved him, they really did, but they had to give him up. They were willing to give him up to _protect_ him.

 **III**

 **A/N: OKAY. I did _not_ expect to write that much. But I did, and now I'm exhausted, hehe. Anyways, I made Adrien half human because it contributes to the story. I got some inspiration from "The Little Mermaid" and Kate O'Hearn's Pegasus Series (random I know) for the CRU part. **

**You would learn about what that means in the next chapter, or if you already read the series, GOOD FOR YOU, we're on the same page! Also, I made the leader Theo because I was bored and was running out of options (Also because I'm terrible at creating OCs) ...So, that's about it. See ya soon! ;3**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey guys. Sorry if I hadn't been able to update lately...I was sort of occupied with my other fanfic. Anyway here's part twelve. Hope you like it! :)**

 **III**

Marinette was twiddling her fingers behind her back nervously. She had no idea that Adrien was half human, and she definitely didn't know of the dark story of Adrien's parents. Something was bothering her. She turned to Master Fu. "Master Fu, what does CRU mean?"

Master Fu hung his head, shaking it slowly and sighed. "CRU stands for Central Research Unit, a governmental group devoted to finding all sorts of creatures and testing out their "supernatural" abilities with advanced machinery." Marinette, still clearly confused, asked, "But that isn't so bad...is it? I mean, won't they just see how a certain creature behaves, just out of curiosity?" Master Fu made a tch noise from the back of his throat. "These humans in general are nasty...they force the creatures into it, torturing them with different chemicals and machines. The poor things don't even get a say in it."

"Oh." Marinette said with uncertainty. Silence followed the remaining time there. "All right" Master Fu announced, breaking the silence. In a flash of light, they were back in the dark cave. Marinette clutched her head and shook herself from the dizzy feeling. She looked over to Adrien for a response. He just floated there silently, not making any eye contact with her or Master Fu. His face was pale, and his eyes were red from crying. "Are you okay?" Marinette asked softly. "Fine, I'm fine, it's nothing really." He mumbled in response. He didn't meet her eyes. Marinette frowned. "Adrien, talk to us, you are not fine!" She gently reached for his arm.

Adrien's muscles tensed up. His fins were flaring dangerously, hands shaking ferociously. Marinette gasped and quickly let go. "I-I'm sorry..." Marinette began to stutter. "I d-didn't mean to u-ups—" Adrien finally snapped.

He HAD it. If only he hadn't gone exploring that one night, if _only_ he hadn't saved Marinette. None of this would be happening. He would be happily living life on the currents with Plagg and his adoptive family. Cheerful, carefree...what he would give to be like that again. But no, because of this girl, because of Master Fu, he was forced to take the burden of knowing his bitter past and taking the responsibility to save the ocean.

Adrien squeezed his eyes shut then opened them, the last teardrops from his eyes disintegrating. He cleared his mind of all the past events that had happened. His eyes had a fire in them, blazing bright with intensity. They lit up, making his deep emerald pupils glow and define his cheekbones in the darkened cave. His blonde hair swayed around his head slowly. There was an unnatural tension in the water, no creature or mer moved, and the ocean itself seemed to be suspended in time. Before Marinette and Master Fu could process what was going on, he spun tail and darted out of the cave, swirling the dark and musty sand. Marinette covered her face, coughing.

About a minute later, Marinette lowered her arms. The tension in the ocean had stopped, movement and the gentle currents returning. She looked worriedly out the cave. "W-What just _happened?!"_ She whispered. Master Fu was awfully silent as well. "I feared this might happen." He managed to say, as he swam deeper into the cave. "H-Hey, where are you going?!" Marinette called out, swimming after him.

Master Fu sat back back down on his velvet pillow and began to meditate. Marinette came shortly after and stopped abruptly at the sight. "How in the world could you be MEDITATING right now?!" She cried out, exasperated. Master Fu, his eyes closed, continued to meditate. Marinette crossed her arms. "Hello? Are you even listening to me?!" No answer. She yelled out in frustration, tugging on her pigtails. "I can't believe you right now!" She jabbed her thumb out the entrance of the cave. "Adrien's out there on his own, in that dark ocean doing who knows what! He could get seriously injured!" She huffed, trying to get her breath back from speaking so rapidly.

She slumped on the stone wall, next to Master Fu. Fuming, she sighed in defeat. Her hands were on her face and she was sobbing silently, her crimson tail was tucked underneath her, fins curled in dispair. Here she was in a dark ocean pratically by herself with only an old and silent, battered merman.

Just a few hours ago she discovered that she herself was a creature of the sea—or at least partly. All she wanted really wanted right now was to go back home, forget about the ocean and Adrien, and just live her life normally as a teenage girl. Her heart refused her to dwindle in these thoughts however. Granted, Marinette too, had felt the warm surging pulse when Adrien offered a hand to help her up. It was that instant zing that made Marinette agree to do all of this in the first place...that and her being a little curious herself.

She hated to admit it, but something about Adrien made her want to stay, made her feel protected and loved. But that couldn't be the case could it? After all she only met him for the second time in her life. It didn't help that he was a tall, strong merman with shaggy blonde hair...and those deep green eyes, when Adrien looked at her with that shy, yet mischievous smile they seem to peer right into her soul. Marinette mentally shook her head. _Why the hell am I thinking like this right now?! I should be doing something productive...instead I'm just wasting my time moping and crying!_

Marinette slowly lifted herself from her fetal position. Her face lit up with determination. She stood up, turning to face Master Fu. "Look." She said darkly. "If you don't so much as care what happens to Adrien and refuse to help him or even talk to me...I'm going out there to find him on my own." She started swimming slowly toward the opening of the cave.

"I knew you cared for him." A soft voice called out. Marinette spun around. "What?" The old merman smiled from the distant and beckoned her to come closer. Marinette did, and she was soon seated on a pillow across from Master Fu. "I needed to make sure you cared for him...trust and compassion are important things." Marinette stared at him with an eyebrow raised. She looked away. There was a slight blush on her cheeks. "Maybe...but I don't know why. I only met him for a short while." She mumbled.

Master Fu smiled genuinely. "The jewels not only bond new powers and abilities...but they also bond them to other people who have them. You see, the creator of the Miraculous made them from the exact same material—moltened together they give the users wonderous powers, with a willpower to protect and serve, and since the jewels are made from the same material...the user wearing one would always know where the other user is."

He clasped his hands together. "There is a reason why you feel the way you do around him, a reason why there always seems to be that...how you say, "sensation" when you touch." Marinette smiled slightly, before remembering Adrien was still out there. She looked at the ground. "Master Fu...Adrien is out there on his own...I'm scared for him. It's dark out there, anything could happen..."

Master Fu raised Marinette's chin gently. "Look at me child." Marinette looked at him. Her bluebell eyes were corned slightly with tears. "Believe me when I say you will never truly lose him, he may be out there on his own...but he will find his way back to us...to you. He needs to cool down and process what just happened, is all." Marinette nodded her head reluctantly. "I suppose the news of his biological parents was quite a shock...I understand." Her fists clenched. "ARGH...this is all my fault! If I hadn't rallied him up like that he wouldn't have swam away!"

"It's not your fault." Master Fu said simply. "You were just worried for him, that was really sweet of you. And Anyway...I actually needed to tell you something without Adrien knowing." Marinette eyes widened. "Without Adrien...I don't understand, what is it, what must you tell me?"

Master Fu's tone of voice changed completely. Instead of light and friendly, his voice was sorrowful. "The real reason why I chose Adrien..." His voice broke but he regained it again.

"The real reason why I chose Adrien is because his _own_ father is the one who stole the missing Miraculouses." 

**III**

 **A/N: So, what did you guys think? I tried my very best to try to include likely scenes from Season 2 into my fanfic to make it sound legitament. Tell me what you think might happen next...and stay Miraculous!!! :3**


	13. Chapter 13

**Long time no see! Sorry I hadn't been updating in a while, a lot of things have been happening lately in my life and most of them aren't great.**

 **Anyway I'll spare you the drama, and clarify the chapter already.**

 **In this chapter, I'll introduce two new characters, Juleka and Luka (Season 2). In my fanfic they will be adults unlike Marinette, Adrien, Alya, Nino, etc. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't say why. Enjoy the chapter! :3**

 **III**

Marinette straightened up in shock and gasped, appalled. Fear was written on her face. "H-How is that possible?" She asked shakily. Her hands were clammy with fright. _Wait until Adrien finds out about this._ Master Fu frowned, the usual light from his eyes dimming.

"I found out fifteen and a half years ago when I felt the ocean change and shift rapidly. I knew then that the Miraculous's were missing." He paused to regain his thoughts, his face screwing up with concentration.

Marinette shifted uncomfortably, she felt rigid. The walls of the ancient cave seemed to be moving to her, closer and closer, ready to swallow and consume her whole. After a minute Master Fu spoke again, shattering the silence.

"After casting the spell to deliver yours and Adrien's Miraculous, I remember summoning up a magic mirror bubble..." Marinette held up a finger to ask a question. "A magic mirror bubble is like a portal that's non-enterable and can show what's going on anywhere else in the world." Master Fu interrupted. Marinette shut her mouth, satisfied from the answered question.

Master Fu continued. "I was on a research for more information on the CRU institution, and wondered what they did with Adrien's father. What I saw was disastrous. It turned out that the CRU agents did not kill Adrien's father, but imprisoned him." Fu stroked his wispy beard thoughtfully. "Hmm...it might be best if I showed you, the story is way to complicate for me to explain in words alone..."

There was a whoosh of ocean as one of the dark cave walls faded into a bright screen that showed a building—the CRU. Marinette's eyes widened. She had seen this exact building before! In fact, everyday on her way to school she would pass the building.

Once in a while she would hear news about the corporation that worked inside. The news that came from the sleek, dark gray building, if there were any news at all (they were very secretive), always displayed to be good. Whether they discovered a new species or found a cure to a disease, they always brought up the most positive aspects. The people who worked there seem to be rubbed up with propaganda, as if they can't tell right from wrong from what measures they would have to take to find out certain information.

"Is something on your mind right now?" Master Fu asked, observing her baffled face. Marinette snapped back to attention. "Wah—oh no it's nothing...er, I just thought that this sort of magic sort of looked like a TV." She smiled, lying through her teeth.

Master Fu gave a sad smile back to her. "Ah yes, the "magic box" that humans love to spend endless hours in front of". Marinette forced herself not to argue back from this derogatory statement and just blinked, continuing her blinding smile as if nothing happened. Behind Marinette's back, her crimson tail slightly flared in annoyance.

III

The cave wall flitted to an image of a man. He was well dressed in clean and sharp attire. Sharp boots clicked the hard tiled floor impatiently, causing a hollow tap to echo around the room of the CRU. Two more people in white laboratory coats came, a young man and a woman, emerged from the glass sliding doors behind him. They gave the well suited man a sharp nod.

The man turned towards the two people. "Did he resist?" The man drawled. The lab workers looked at each other nervously. It was so silent that even the ticking of the clock on the drab gray wall was clearly heard. The lights in the room flickered slightly. Patience was not on the man's side. He stamped his foot in anger, causing the two workers to jump in surprise. "WELL?! I DEMAND ANSWERS!" He bellowed. The woman took a deep breath and tentively stepped closer. "W-Well you see Theo, Mr. Agreste had just been through a lot...you did shoot him with a tranquilizer dart which paralyzed him from the neck down temporarily. His wife, the...um... "mermaid" is also nowhere in sight, along with their baby boy." The woman warbled.

"You didn't answer my _question_." Theo snarled. This time the young man walked up. "You'll have to excuse my sister, sir, she's not one for getting to the point." Theo frowned and crossed his arms. "Did you forget that I'm the boss of this CRU unit? Luka, either you and your sister tell me what happened or you'll both get fired, I _guarantee_ it." Luka gulped, a bead of sweat forming at the side of his neck. "Of course sir, I wouldn't even dream of hiding any information from you.

Theo let out a grim smile. "Good. Now answer my question." Luka began riffling the files he carried, searching for the right information. His sister, Juleka came up to help. As Luka searched, he talked at the same time. "Sir even though the information Juleka offered is not mandatory, it is still true. Mr. Agreste woke up with quite a shock once he regained consciousness." Luka found the file he'd been looking for and quickly flipped it open.

Inside were scraps of paper with a bunch of code on them. Pictures were inserted from the tests the lab workers did on Mr. Agreste. Luka cleared his throat. "Gabriel Agreste took up quite a fight. He demanded to see his wife and son, despite him knowing that she and their son is somewhere back in the ocean. Try as we might, we couldn't calm him down from his "tantrum". We were running out of options and we couldn't even begin to question the whereabouts of the mermaid pod, liked you asked, though I doubt that Gabriel _himself_ even knows. Or so we thought..." Luka's face paled. He nudged his sister gently. "Your turn." He murmured.

Theo turned to Juleka. Juleka carefully took two pictures from the file, each displaying a picture of Mr. Agreste's before and after picture. "Our only option was to try out the untested newly formulated serum—the one that flows through a person's bloodstream into their mind which then brainwashes a person and makes them lose their past memories." She rasped. Juleka indicated to the before picture. "This was Gabriel before we injected the serum."

Theo gazed at the photo and frowned. Gabriel's eyes were open, red-veined and bloodshot. His short hair was matted and bristled. His skin was sallow and yellowing. His face was impressioned with pure maddening insanity. "So...the serum, did it work?" He asked gruffly, tearing his eyes away from the photo.

Juleka took the photo and transferred it with the "after" picture. Mr. Agreste remained quite the same, except for the fire in his eyes dulled to a blank stare. He looked somehow calmer and yet, not really. "The serum _did_ in fact work, however, it left rather strange side effects." She stated. "He was knocked out for the first five minutes as the serum was injected into his body, but woke up soon after mumbling something about some "magical items" and "mermaids". Luka and I hurried to connect the brain fusion wires onto his head to see what he was mumbling about."

Juleka looked up to face Theo's hard, cold eyes. In her voice was untampered fear. "The serum worked, but it didn't work as we hoped. Instead of a neutralizing base where the serum would have erased his memories and send him in a harmless state, it turned out to be a _reactive_ base, which means that Mr. Agreste has more knowledge than ever, accessed to information that _he_ didn't even know before the serum." She paused to catch her breath, breathing in and out in exaggerated whistles, unaware of the fact that both men were staring at her. "Well said, sis." Luka muttered.

"Shall we...show him...the...picture?" Juleka managed to make out. She glanced at her brother nervously. "And what picture, pray-tell, is this?" Theo asked suspiciously, eyebrow arched. "Might as well, Jules, the "boss" already knows everything else." Theo bared his teeth. "Don't test me, _Luka."_ Luka held up his hands in defense. "Okay, okay." He quickly snatched the photo from under the file.

The hazy picture displayed two jewels, one, a pair of earrings blood red, the other a ring, black as night. "This is what Mr. Agreste has been mumbling about. To destroy the merpeople population, you would need these specific jewels. They control all life force of the sea, and that _includes_ merpeople. And not just the pod you're looking for, I'm talking about ALL merpeople." Luka said confidently. He grinned cunningly. "And luckily for us, the serum's effects do not wear off for about roughly forty-eight hours."

Theo returned one back, slowly spreading, until his smile was equivalent to the Cheshire Cat's. "Oh that is simply _devine."_ With just a few more steps to go, he was finally on the right track of riding the world of these mystical, irksome, and useless creatures.

Juleka came in between them. She raised her hand questionably. "Um sir? It's best if we don't burn him out on questions too frequently, as the serum's effects might not take hold. What do you want us to do with him in the meantime?" Theo waved his hand dismissively, not really paying attention. "That's fine...put him in quarantine for now..."

The moving video-like image flickered and sputtered until the image of the CRU room dulled and returned to its usual cavy dark gray walls.

III

"What happened?" Asked Marinette worriedly, frantically searching for the moving image again. Master Fu sighed. "Frankly, my memory is not at all what it used to be, and since this certain magic requires the mind's memories, I'm afraid that's all I have remembered from the mirror bubble. 

...Which is _why_ I need you and Adrien more than ever." Marinette nodded her head in determination. "If Theo wants to destroy the ocean and all the creatures in it, he would have to get through us—"

A tail fin rapidly churned in the cave's waters. Marinette stopped speaking to turn around in surprise. There, a flushed red Adrien floated in the water. "HELP. ME." He mouthed. "Ah, Adrien your back!" Master Fu chirruped. Marinette got up from the floor and swam towards Adrien. 

"I'm sorry—what did you say?" She asked in confusion. Adrien took a moment to catch his breath, groping the sides of the cave for support. "M-m-my fish friend sent out the secret Sea Police...p-pod of sharks, searching for me..." Adrien sank to the ground, his stomach resting on the cave floor. "I'm in huge trouble now..." he mumbled guiltily. 

Marinette looked at Adrien on the floor. "I'm still kind of confused." She said slowly. Asking Adrien for details was useless however, as he was soon fast asleep, his shiny black tail curled close to his chest. Turning to Master Fu was no help either, all he did was chuckle and shake his head in bewilderment. "What did I say?" Marinette asked, more confused than ever. 

**III**

 **That's the end to Chapter 13, I hope you found this chapter interesting! Next chapter would go over what Adrien was doing in the meantime, and a perhaps a little more after that. Happy Valentine's Day!!!**

 **Until next time! :3**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Well howdy to you. It's been a while since I updated, so here you go. This chapter will, like I said in the last chapter, sum up what Adrien was doing in the meantime when Marinette was learning the truth of why they were chosen to bear the Miraculouses.**

 **Hope ya like the chapter! :)**

 **III**

Adrien sat on a flat, dark gray boulder surrounded by thick fronds of kelp about a quarter mile from the entrance of the cave. It had been almost an hour since his abrupt rampage. His anger slowly faded away the longer he was out of the cave. Sighing deeply, he hung his head in regret.

He shouldn't have lost his temper like that, it was rude to not only Master Fu, but Marinette as well. After all, she had only tried to console him. However he couldn't help it...for him seeing the image of his mom and dad for the first time and watching them fade away from view...it was absolutely heartbreaking, and he wasn't ready for something like that.

Adrien shifted his tail in front of him. His black tail was draped on the drab rock, his fins loosely spread out. He clutched bare chest as he leaned back on a sturdy kelp frond to peer up at the murky waters. His blonde hair was gently billowing from the soft currents of the ocean. _I wonder what it would be like if my parents were still alive..._ He silently thought to himself.

 _Would I be happy? Would I have human friends other than my friends from the sea? Would everything be normal as it should be, or would things be strange knowing that my father was a human?_

More questions were flooding the boy's mind and he tried to shake them off. They were giving him a serious case of anxiety. Adrien tried to remember the good parts of his life, the highlights he had with living on the currents with Plagg and his family. Everything he learned was influenced from the catfish family. Plagg wasn't even born yet when his parents have found Adrien, so Plagg knew about Adrien ever since he was born.

Adrien chuckled to himself. Plagg and him, they really did act like brothers. They laughed together, cried together, and even got in trouble together sometimes. Speaking of Plagg...where was he now? Certainly not where he was, Plagg couldn't have known Adrien was not in his room in their cave home, let alone an entirely different ocean. It was well almost a full day now of him disappearing, Plagg must be worried sick. Adrien felt guilt rising in his gut, he didn't tell Plagg he was going for a swim, and he was disobeying his adoptive parents by swimming out into the ocean anyway, when he was supposed to be in his room, grounded.

 _Oh well, Plagg would learn to manage without me, there's no possible way for me to return with what I've witnessed and learned now...and besides, maybe I could send him a message through a conch shell telling him where I've been after all of this is over._

Meanwhile...

Plagg was snoring softly when his parents came home. He woke up with a start, accidentally rolling into the remaining walrus cheese he left beside him before his food coma struck. He stood up from the rug he'd been sleeping on and brushed the remaining crumbs off of him. "Hello mom, dad!" Plagg called out cheerfully. "What's for dinner?" As usual, Plagg's hunger was riding up on him again, his stomach was always notoriously known for consuming food of all shapes and sizes.

"Oh dearie...hungry again, aren't we?" His mother, a medium sized, violet catfish, giggled, and swam over to lightly kiss Plagg on the top of his head. "Why don't you call Adrien down here, hmm? I think he's been in his room for a long amount of time to think about what he's done." Plagg grumbled under his breath, rolling his lime green, catlike eyes. "Alright fine...but don't expect him to come down right away, the boy doesn't even eat much of anything anyway..."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" His father asked with a disapproving tone in his voice. When Plagg didn't reply right away, his father gave him a stern look. The spikes on his fins were slightly flared. "Errm, nothing dad." Plagg quickly said, as he headed up to Adrien's room. The only thing securing privacy from Adrien's room was a boulder in front of the medium sized hole in the wall. It wasn't there when he reached to his room however, but laid carelessly outside of the room.

Plagg poked his head inside. The moon jellies in a lantern made of sea reeds kept as a source of light were dimmed down, making the cave room look dark. "Adrien? Dinner's here. Mom says to come down and eat." Plagg paused for a minute, waiting to hear an answer. The cave remained quiet.

"Adrien? HELLO did you HEAR me?!" Plagg yelled, getting frustrated. Still no reply. He groaned in frustration as he swam inside Adrien's room. As the moon jellies woke up and started vibrating, the room illuminated with their glow. Adrien was nowhere in sight. "C'mon Adrien this isn't funny!" Plagg whined, his eyes still searching across the cave. There was a lump on his sea foam bed made by a seaweed flax blanket. Plagg rolled his eyes.

"Oh I see how it is, you're giving me the silent treatment just because I told on you to mom and dad. Well guess what kid? TWO can play that game!" The tiny catfish ferociously grabbed the blanket with his mouth and yanked it down. There was nothing there but a lump of falling apart sea foam. Adrien was not there. Plagg spat out the blanket. "No...Adrien...where the hell are you?" His voice strained to a whisper. Adrien was not in his room. Plagg frantically searched the whole cave house, calling out his name, even going to his own room to look for him.

Plagg zoomed out of his room to where his parents were. "Plagg, dear how many times have I told you? No zooming in the cave!" His mother called. He stopped abruptly, wheezing.

"Adrien...gone...missing...don't...know...where..." he gasped. "Calm down son..." His father said, swimming closer to him. His mother also stopped what she was doing to come to Plagg. He spoke once again when he caught his breath. "Adrien's missing...he's not in his room, he's not anywhere in the cave, I checked!" Plagg was hyperventilating now, swimming in tight circles as he usually does when he's worried.

His parents looked at each other, frightened. Plagg was mumbling under his breath on how it was all his fault and how he's the one responsible for Adrien's disappearance. His parents were talking quietly on what to do about the situation. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they looked at him.

"There's nothing we can really do right now Plagg...it's already nightfall and therefore to dangerous to explore the sea for a missing boy." His father said. "But..." His mom began. "We can alert the sea police in the mean time. They can search for Adrien in all seven of the seas until they find him." She rested a fin on Plagg. "Adrien will be found honey. But I'm afraid when he does, we will be restricting his time for exploring. He's been getting in trouble for all these years just because of it. Adrien is not allowed to leave the house unless me or your father tags along. Understood?" Plagg looked up at his mom's jade green eyes and nodded shakily. "I-I...understand."

 _Adrien was NOT going to like this one bit._ He thought bitterly.

So, that night while Plagg hastily slurped his seaweed, olive, and shrimp soup, his parents had called the sea police to find Adrien. He heard voices from the living room and started panicking again. What if the sea police couldn't find him? What if Adrien was lost at sea alone...forever? Plagg shook the feeling off and quickly finished his soup. His stomach queasily tossed as he swam up to his room. "Tomorrow will be a better day", he murmured as he tucked into bed for the night. "I hope...".

The night loomed on and the bright crescent moon filled the sky, but not before the dark gray clouds covered it. The Sea Police, officially known as the Shark Saviors, were obviously a pack of sharks of different breeds. Each member had its own perks, adding a benefit to the team. The sharks kept a portal stone with them at all times, allowing them to travel to different places in the ocean. With seven sharks in total, along with an assistant, they were enough to cover the seven seas.

One happened to even be in the East China Sea. A long, sleek gray tiger shark glided in the murky waters. Beside him, a bottle nosed dolphin swam, struggling through the kelp. Both were wearing the official badge of the sea police. The shark had recently picked up a scent of a young merman and was following his nose.

Adrien was still laying on the rock when he heard a noise nearby. In the distance, he saw a flash of navy blue. His heart stopped, pulse quickening. _No no no...this can't be..._ Adrien thought. As quietly as he can, he slid off the rock, paying close attention to his surroundings. Thankfully, sharks don't see very well in general, so finding Adrien will all rely on scent.

As he reached the end of the kelp, he swam as fast as he can back to the cave, where Marinette and Master Fu remained. Adrien groped the side of the stone cave. He was breathing heavily from his fast sprint. He explained what happened all in a haste. Marinette looked at him worriedly and swam up to him asking a question. Master Fu looked bemused.

Adrien didn't hear or feel anything, for he was soon fast asleep on the cave's floor.

 **III**

 **A/N: That's the end to this chapter folks! I hoped you like the part on where I added Plagg. Next chapter will focus on something more important and major, if I tell you guys now, I'll spoil it.**

 **Until next time! :3**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hello, long time no see! So after months and months of procrastinating, I finally was able to finish this part. It might be a bit shorter than the others, but hey, I tried haha. Hope you enjoy~**

 **III**

Adrien woke up to the voice of a conversation between Marinette and Master Fu in the corner. A fuzzy sea flaxen blanket was draped over him. He stifled and yawn and stretched, wincing in some sore places. Rubbing his eyes, he looked out the cave entrance from a distance. Something was _odd,_ well at least more than usual from the time he's spent in this dismal ocean. Instead of its usual storm gray waters, there was some sort of guazy forcefield obscuring everything from view.

How long was he asleep? For all he knew, it could've been hours, maybe even...days? No, impossible. Master Fu glanced up at Adrien. "Ah Adrien you're awake!" Marinette whipped her head around and smiled in relief. "Glad to see that you're awake, sleeping beauty." She joked. Adrien gave her a quizzical look and and swam out from the blankets, joining them.

"You might be wondering why I put up a forcefield around the cave, correct?" Master Fu smiled knowingly. Adrien blinked in surprise. "Uh...yeah actually." Marinette looked at him carefully. "Adrien, do you remember anything on what happened right before you fell asleep?" She asked. Adrien furrowed his brow in concentration. He remembered swimming for his life from a distance to the cave and feeling really exhausted. Everything following after that was fuzzy, however. "No, not really," he said with a deep sigh.

Marinette spoke once more. "So you don't remember running—er _swimming_ from something called the _Sea Police?"_ Adrien paused. Everything seemed to fall into place...swimming from exhaustion, the forcefield, and falling asleep. His eyes widened when the memory hit him back. " _Oh silt,"_ he cried, clutching his head with worry. Was he in _that_ deep of a sleep? This was bad, really _really_ bad. If Plagg and his adoptive parents have found out that he was out of their cave-house, let alone in another _ocean,_ they would totally flip out and ground him for the rest of his _life._

Adrien didn't realize he had his eyes screwed shut until he opened them. Master Fu and Marinette were staring at him. He flushed, looking off to the side. "Please...tell me I haven't slept for a few _days."_ Master Fu chortled at this. "Oh heavens my boy, you were only asleep for two hours!" He waved his hand dismissively. "It shouldn't matter now. With the Sea Police, I had to put up the forcefield so they won't get to you, they're back in their own ocean now. I also alerted your family and told them that you were safe...that you were chosen to go on a special mission.

"And they were okay with that?" Adrien couldn't help but sound skeptical. Master Fu spread his hands. "Your mother was _quite_ worried and your brother, Plagg...well he did say some words I shall not repeat at the moment. Other than that, your family is okay and awaits for you to come home safely, after your mission is complete, of course." Adrien almost laughed with relief. His parents knew where he was and what he was doing...making up an apology to Plagg should be easy enough. Master Fu's eyes' softened. "Remember that you and Marinette are heroes now. I have faith in you that you'll not let me down and retrieve the Miraculous Jewels." Adrien sure hoped he was right.

Everything went quite quickly after that. Adrien and Marinette had received information that the Miraculous jewels they needed to search for was a silver crescent and a beautiful turquoise broach that was the shape of a mini fan. Marinette kept looking at Adrien nervously, like she knew something he didn't. He was about to open his mouth to ask but then closed it, changing his mind. Master Fu led them out the cave, where an all too familiar portal was waiting for them. "This is where your journey begins...good luck Marinette and Adrien."

One dizzying portal trip later, Marinette and Adrien were back where they first crashed into each other. "...Well, I guess I'll see you out," Adrien mumbled awkwardly. Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Last time I recall, I had to drag you back to the ocean because you were too far out."

Adrien glanced down sheepishly. "I _promise_ I won't got to far out okay? I'll just see you out, we can meet tomorrow afternoon to begin the hunt for the jewels." Marinette nodded at this. "Right, and I'll keep a look out for them in land, shouldn't be _too_ hard? Maybe I'll find some clues."

They went out of the ocean slowly, Marinette taking in one last look at the breathtaking scenery. "What a weird day this was..." She muttered to herself. A warm orange sunset was already there, waiting for Marinette. The sky was turning purple, first shower of stars peeking out. Breathing in the salty air, she let the warmth envelop her. She turned to look at Adrien sitting in the ocean beside a rock. He had his back turned around and wasn't looking at her however. Marinette moved in.

"Hey Adrien...I really need to go now, an—" Marinette did a double take. Marinette and Adrien were both staring at Adrien's black scaled tail, except there _wasn't_ a tail, but instead two feet, positioned awkwardly. The rest of his body was beneath the waves. Adrien didn't make a sound, probably too frightened to even speak. Marinette herself felt that she couldn't talk, and just watched in awe and horror.

It was official now. Adrien had become _human._

 **III**

 **A/N: You guys don't know how hard I'm trying to not make this sound like a cliché. But anyway, I finished with the chapter, leaving off with Adrien becoming a human! What might happen next? Tell me in the reviews!**

 **Bon voyage~**


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